MovieChat Forums > The Hill (1965) Discussion > That one turns on the gas

That one turns on the gas

posted 17 years ago by Diesel59
5 replies | jump to latest

In the shower scene Sean Connery jokingly chides a fellow prisoner:
"Don't touch that one, it turns on the gas", - all laugh.
At the time (1942) there was still no official acceptance that concentration camp victims were being systematically gassed with Zyklon B whilst ostensibly being given a shower.
A historical innacuracy but there weren't many in this film which was very authentic.
It was a good example of gallows humour though, - witty but not politically correct. Then again, there was no such concept as "political correctness" in 1942, or indeed 1965, when the film was made.
P.S. In the extras section of the Region 1 DVD, a calendar of 1942 is shown, so presumably that was the year depicted in The Hill.

[–] ib011f9545i 17 years ago

Never mind the "official acceptance" bit the allies did not know exactly what was going on with the jews but they knew it was bad.
The Germans were not advertising what they were doing and the only way to stop them doing it was to win the war.

The holocaust was a terrible thing but we have to remember it was done by the Germans and the allies struggled to get details of what was going on.
See "THE MYTH OF RESCUE by Rubenstein if you don't believe me.

It was known that many jews and others had been shot or beaten to death on the eastern front but the idea of industrial scale murder was not something people could believe until they saw the evidence.

1942 would be the right year for this film to be set because that was when the British started to win in North Africa.

[–] Diesel59 16 years ago

The point is that it was a historical goof. If The Hill had been set in the Korean war- early 50's, that joke would have been readily understood. But not in 1942. Still, it fitted in....artistic licence & all that.

[–] alphax-3 16 years ago

I just saw the film last night for the first time, came here to make the same point. Regardless of when the allied leaders found out the truth, which still wouldn't be as early as '42, regular soldiers didn't know until near the end of the war.

Good film, not at all the camp 1940s style war film I was expecting 10 minutes in.

[–] morganmorgan 16 years ago

The historical inaccuracy felt like an actor ad-lib. I wonder if it was originally in the script.

How many syllables Mario?

[–] 16 years ago

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